FEBRUARY 18, 1957

San Francisco, Calif.—The League of Women Voters sponsored the meeting in Santa Rosa. It is a very efficient organization with many young women
actively interested. They said that all their members had worked on the meeting and
the results were evident. Their state president came from out of town with her husband
for a dinner before the meeting and afterwards there was a reception in a private
home.

The small dinner was in a restaurant called the Topaz room. It had displayed in cases
around the walls an interesting collection of glass and china from all over the world.
I was glad to meet General and Mrs. Usher as I had not seen him since I was his guest in the Pacific in 1943. There were two
people at the reception who had been in Warm Springs and were anxious for news of
many of the people there. The husband had been badly handicapped by polio in the arms
and legs but told me proudly he could earn his living and do a good job. How wonderful
it is to see the human spirit rise above great handicaps, but it makes me deeply thankful
that we now have the Salk vaccine and that soon perhaps forever we can eliminate the
kind of handicaps that so many people have had to overcome. Two other old acquaintances
from Washington, Mr. and Mrs. Merle Vincent, were kind enough to take us to the dinner,
and it is certainly very pleasant to be warmly welcomed in a strange city.

Friday morning members of the League of Women Voters drove us into San Francisco,
there being such a dense fog that no planes could fly. I am beginning to think that
we are more fortunate in the East than they are on the West Coast, for, while their
fogs do seem to burn off later in the day, the early morning seems to be out as far
as planes are concerned. At least that has been our experience in the last few days!

My first greetings in the hotel here were from delegates from Hawaii who had come
for the National meeting of the Democratic Committee and the Advisory Committee which
is meeting at the same time. Saturday night the big fund raising dinner will be addressed
by Adlai Stevenson but panels on many subjects are going on today and tomorrow. My
son, James, and Senator Lehman are interested in the panel on human resources where
the Senator will bring up the question of the attitude of the Democratic party on
civil rights. The papers have long articles on the subject. Governor Harriman is here
only for 24 hours but like many others he is agreeing with Senator Lehman that the
President and the Republican administration have not faced up to their responsibility
as regards integration in this country. They agree also that the Democratic party
because of its Southern membership has not come out strongly and honestly in its stand
and they are determined that at this meeting there shall be a clear-cut decision as
to where the Democratic party does stand. They acknowledge the fact that this may
bring a political explosion since this is the question which deeply divides the Democratic
party. The South, solidly Democratic for many years though it is now beginning to
move into a less solid status and show signs of having a two-party system, still has
held, because of seniority, many of the most important and influential Party positions
in the Congress. The Congressional leaders in both the Senate and the House are opposed
to anything which will mean a clear-cut stand on Civil Rights Legislation. There are
among the Southerners those who realize that change must come but they are also faced
with the fact that they must be reelected and their role is a difficult one. For the liberals in the North to force on the
whole party a stand which is impossible for the South to accept is going to be a very
serious step and I hope that wisdom and patience will be used in the discussions which
are to go on in the next few days.

Source Note:
Transcription created from a photocopy of a draft version of a My Day column instance
archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
My Day column draft dated February 16, 1957, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 16 February 1957, AERP, FDRL